(Disclaimer: I do not own the philosophies and teaching of TFT. Everything belongs to Mr. Tim Larkin. This post is to inform only. Enjoy reading.)
Free Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying
Alive When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"Controlled Violence: the Surprising Catalyst to a
More Enjoyable Life"
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"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
-W. Edwards Deming
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I was watching an Instructor Class the other night
with one of my great friends from the fighting world
and we discussed how difficult it is to talk about
fighting to most people.
This difficultly lies in the fact that my definition
of fighting is very different from most "fighters".
When someone tells me they know how to fight, that
triggers in my mind numerous examples of specific
methods of inflicting trauma on the human body with
the goal being the destruction of other guys.
In the rare instance when I decide to speak about
fighting in a social situation, I usually regret doing
so. Quickly I see that most people are uncomfortable
with my very calm descriptions of the effective use of
violence.
Most people get caught up in the surreal aspects of
violence that permeate society today... the WWF or
video game fake violence... as opposed to learning how
to methodically deliver systematic strikes to
vulnerable parts of the human body with the goal being
the total destruction of the other guy.
People always comment on how friendly and
approachable I am -- as well as my instructors. They
are confused, I'd guess, because most of the martial
arts and combat sport world is dominated by aloof
personalities who seem more concerned you recognize
their 'rank' rather than answer your questions.
I tell clients all the time that the more trained
you are to deal with real violence, the more
emotionally relaxed life you live... and the more you
get to enjoy life experiences and people.
There's much less need to use false aggression in
your demeanor to give off that 'I'm intimidating'
message. That is an Effect-State(tm) (and fear-based)
protection mechanism that is mildly effective but
takes a huge emotional toll to pull off.
This is yet another reason to seek out competent
training in hand-to-hand combat. By facing the fact
violence exists and learning how to effectively use
violence, you truly free yourself from unnecessary
fear in your day-to-day living.
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One note: look for future emails about once every
7 days.
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Until next time,
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Free Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying
Alive When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"Are You Learning To Fight... Or To Dance?"
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"In our peacetime tactical training we should use
difficult, highly imaginative situations and require
clear, concise and simple orders. The more difficult
the situation the more simple the order must be. Above
all *** Let us Kill everything stereotyped; otherwise
it will kill us ***"
- Adolf von Schell, Battle Leadership, 1933
******************************************************
I saw a commercial for one of those dance instruction
programs that guarantees you'd be able to dance as
well as any member of the most popular boy-bands.
The program showed a group of students following the
instructor step-by-step to learn some pretty complex
moves, choreographed to perfection. The result was
that by memorizing the steps and combining the moves
you could mimic the formerly difficult routine.
It reminded me of watching a Wushu team practice their
show. For those of you that aren't familiar, Wushu is
a Chinese martial art that is delivered via a stage
performance. The fights are very elaborate and it
takes a great deal of practice to put on a convincing
show.
As I watched the team practice it was interesting to
note that whenever someone wanted to screw around all
they had to do was execute a move different from the
routine. Literally you would be watching a fight scene
you'd swear was pitting two highly trained fighters in
mortal combat when all of a sudden one of the guys
would move differently... maybe slap the other guy in
the face like the Three Stooges used to do.
Everyone would laugh, then take a break.
But that slap also woke me up out of the dream state I
was in as I watched the performance.
I realized that this was exactly the method in which
most martial arts or combat sports are instructed.
Especially when they train "self defense".
Basically there are set patterns you memorize in
response to various staged attacks. Memorize those
responses and you can look pretty impressive.
But what happens if you vary the attack?
Most students freeze.
Why?
**** BECAUSE THEY WERE NEVER TAUGHT TO FIGHT ****
Nope, they basically were taught to 'dance' and as
long as everything went according to the 'routine' you
could do okay. But we all know things never go exactly
as planned.
Fighting is no different -- whether you are on the mat
at your training center or on the street locked in
mortal combat with the other guy(s). The only
variation is that when you fight with your training
partner you don't actually maim, cripple or kill. You
still target and simulate those exact strikes, just at
a pace your partner can handle.
If, however, you're operating in a 'training' mode
where you are memorizing a 'set' response to an
attack, you are learning nothing but a 'dance' move.
In TFT such training is viewed as "coordination
training" not fighting.
If you don't know the difference, you can easily fall
victim to the "now it's for real syndrome". That's
where you face an imminent attack yet hesitate... as
your brain tries to accept the fact that "this is for
real".
Contrast this to the well-trained fighter who simply
sees all this as merely fighting and proceeds to: 1)
find his targets and 2) strike. The only difference to
the fighter is the fact he can now strike with full
power.
That's because the well-trained fighter never sees
himself as 'training' -- he's always fighting.
Understand this concept and you'll always be
prepared... no matter what the situation.
Until next time,
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Free Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying
Alive When 'Rules' Don't Apply
"Often When You Try To Teach Someone A Lesson, You're
The One Who Ends Up Getting Schooled"
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"It's all fun and games 'til someone loses an eye"
- Mom
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I was meeting with one of my master instructors and
some business associates the other day. We were
hashing out the schedule for the coming year and
elaborating on the requirements for the new TFT
Mastery Program. This program allows clients the
ability to expand their skills, even achieving the
status of Trainer (a level of fighting education
unavailable until now).
One of our associates had difficulty comprehending
our clear-cut definition of when to use violence as
the solution to a dangerous problem. For us it's
simple, the situation needs to be criminal in nature
and "life-or-death serious", meaning... if you don't
take action you are going to be harmed.
This associate kept bringing up various social
situations where someone is verbally (even mildly
physically) aggressive but where the physical threat
is unclear. In other words, at this point you'd be
hard pressed to fight for any reason other than to
"teach him a lesson".
I was just about to handle this issue when my master
instructor jumped in and gave a great example of the
dangers of "teaching someone a lesson".
Seems his older brother (while not at the trainer
level, still an excellent fighter) had a roommate who
caused numerous problems for the other 3 in his house.
Apparently the problem child (we'll call him 'Joe')
was a large person, and both verbally and physically
aggressive. The other roommates had nominated my
instructor's brother (lets call him 'Tom') to give
'Joe' his walking papers.
Although *much* smaller than 'Joe', 'Tom' was
confident that with his extensive fighting training he
could easily handle the situation.
As 'Tom' explained to 'Joe' that he needed to move
out, 'Joe's reaction was to get verbally combative and
use his larger frame as an intimidation factor.
As he moved closer, 'Tom' felt it was time to let
him know he wasn't intimidated and met him with a knee
to the groin and a short punch to the jaw. 'Joe'
doubled over and moved away from the strikes but he
was still standing because 'Tom' hadn't followed up
his strikes since he was only half-heartedly "teaching
him a lesson".
What happened next was a nightmare.
Wondering if 'Joe' was all right 'Tom' moved closer
but 'Joe', now in a violent rage, charged and knocked
him viciously to the floor, then jumped over his body
and began repeatedly kicking him in the temple with
his heavy work boots.
The end result: 'Joe' was arrested and 'Tom'
required numerous MRI's just to insure he had no
lasting brain damage.
Now whenever they instruct class, both my master
trainer and his brother use this as a perfect example
of why, in a violent threat, there can only be one
response... and it's never an attempt to "teach
someone a lesson" or simply an ego boost.
If you are not prepared to leave the other guy in a
non-functioning state, you are not committed to fight.
You're just playing with social violence. But in a
truly violent situation, the other guy IS going to be
committed to *really* hurting you.
In this case 'Tom' used violence to "teach a lesson"
and 'Joe' responded with a lethal attack. You can
never know a person's response to violence. If you use
it to "teach a lesson" (i.e., treat violence as a
game) you may very well find yourself missing an
eye... just like Mom said!
Until next time,
*************************************************
Free Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying
Alive When 'Rules' Don't Apply
You Never Know How Many People You're Fighting
Until You're Fighting Them All
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"You can have a life plan or a fight plan, but when
the action starts, you're down to your reflexes --
your training. If you've cheated on your training in
the dark of the morning, you'll be found out under the
bright lights."
- Heavyweight Boxing Champion Joe Frazier
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I've hammered home the importance of the cold hard
fact: "you do what you train". Anything you do in a
training environment is exactly how you are
conditioning yourself to respond in a life-or-death
situation.
Most of my clients understand this principle in
applying trauma to the body. They are careful to
insure that they strike with a tight fist or make sure
that they complete the rotation of their body to
deploy maximum force upon the given target area of the
other guy.
So where do problems occur?
Most people train for a one-on-one confrontation.
They are excellent at handling the one guy but add in
another guy... and watch the meltdown occur.
I was training a well-known counter-terror unit a few
years back and let them see first-hand the danger in
this oversight.
They had been training heavily in a well-known ju-
jitsu system prior to my course. This was a combat
sport-based system that is very effective in the ring.
But it does no good to tell people that what they
trained may have problems associated with it because
often they have a strong emotional attachment to the
training. Better to let them see a gap and then offer
a solution.
So I asked for the best grappler of the group to don
his field gear and go to the end of the training hall.
I then grabbed 3 other members of the unit and had
them do a simple "sacrificial lamb" attack. This is
where one guy engages the prey and locks him up, then
the other 2 swoop in for the kill.
Well, sure enough, the first guy engages and is
quickly taken to the ground by the fighter and put in
a very painful arm-bar. This guy was amazingly good at
ju-jitsu and would be a terror in the ring -- except
this wasn't a ring, and there was no ref.
In fact, no sooner had the arm-bar been applied than
the other 2 were upon him, had his weapons and could
have "killed" him at any time.
This simple gangbanger attack easily defeated a highly
trained operator because he had handled a multifight
like a sport competition. In fact, the unit later
confessed that they had never trained with their
weapons on the whole time they trained "hand-to-hand".
The focus had been more to see who could make the
other "tap out" first. This is a dangerous way to
train for a lethal criminal confrontation.
You must always treat every confrontation as having
multiple guys. You need to be instructed how to be a
"360-degree" fighter and to be aware of your
surroundings at all times.
In TFT, all fighting is against multiple guys even in
a one-on-one training session. This means as I take
out my current victim I'm aware of my surroundings and
SEARCHING for my next victim.
The training methods we use are beyond the scope of
this newsletter. But if you've never really trained
for multiple guys then you've never trained for life-
or-death confrontations. Don't make that mistake.
Until next time,
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Free Combat Training Principles -- Secrets For Staying
Alive When 'Rules' Don't Apply
Two Different Types of Violence
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"There is never a convenient place to fight a war when
another man starts it"
- Admiral Arleigh Burke
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It's funny listening to men recount their experiences
with violence.
I've noticed there are 2 distinct experiences -- those
that survived a true life-or-death confrontation and
those who participated in social violence.
The first group usually never speaks about the
subject. When they choose to share the experience, you
notice that they are usually brutally honest by
stating they often they were scared and were forced
into action because there was no acceptable
alternative.
There is no gloating over their surviving the
experience and though many acted heroically they don't
see it that way. They see themselves as being
fortunate to have survived and they hope never to be
in that situation ever again.
Participants in social violence, however, often revel
in retelling the exploit where "they kicked his ass".
Some enjoy telling every part of the "fight" and speak
derisively of the other party.
They also give the impression they are ready to
participate again should they ever be called upon to
defend their honor, wife's honor, a spilled drink, or
receive an unwanted off color remark from a loudmouth.
Why the 2 different responses? The first group came in
contact with that ultimate spectre - unavoidable life-
or-death violence. No choice, no retreat, simply fight
or die. In this situation you only survive it, and get
on with your life.
The second group chose violence. They took a situation
that was not life threatening and chose to respond
with violence. This group enjoyed the domination of
using violence (often the recipient was deserving) and
it produced a base human reaction of control over
another in the pecking order.
This is not to say that the 2nd situation could not
have rapidly escalated to a lethal situation but using
violence, as a response, was a deliberate choice.
People choose to use violence when they let their egos
rule the situation. The unavoidable use of violence
produces a very different outcome -- the desire to not
participate in it again.
When we train people in TFT(TM), we train them for
unavoidable violence. We give them the tools to
survive the situation using lethal, brutally effective
methods. Many times those that stated they wanted this
knowledge are those who have the hardest time dealing
with the raw violence.
I notice a lot more talking during the more direct
lethal techniques. I equate talking with fear -- fear
of this knowledge. Fear of really having to pull the
trigger in a situation where they aren't choosing to
use violence but actually forced to do so or die.
Raw violence is not something I wish on anyone but I
teach its use and methodology because when you need it
you can't have enough knowledge of the subject. And
quite frankly the more competent I make you in that
subject the less likely you'll waste your time
choosing to use social violence.
Seek out the difference in the 2 types of violence and
you'll live a better life.
Until next time,
